Let’s Dance for the Gold Medal in Ice Dance

Meryl Davis and Charlie White are in the lead after the Ice Dance short program.

It’s the final night of the ice dance competition, and the race for gold is on between two couples: Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White vs. Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

This is not your ordinary showdown. The pairs train with the same coach at the same rink in suburban Detroit. They watch each other practice. White and Moir, both former hockey players, trade talk about the NHL.

The four tried to deflect attention to their unusual relationship at a news conference Sunday night, following their short dances, in which Virtue and Moir finished a mere 2.5 points behind Davis and White. Each couple answered questions about how they manage to train together while competing with some version of “we’re just focused on our own performance.” They said they have different approaches and styles, and trust their coach to nurture both.

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Canada’s Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue

The situation is this: Virtue and Moir are the 2010 Olympic gold medalists; Davis and White won silver. Inspired by their performance in Vancouver, Davis and White made a calculated decision to amp it up and go for gold in Sochi. Known mostly for their athleticism, they nurtured their artistic side. They hired a Dancing with the Stars choreographer Derek Hough and a belly dancer to help with their dances for this season.

“We’ve become a very different team than we were in 2010,” Davis said in an interview last month.

They’ve won every competition they’ve entered since the World Championships in 2012, but in some of them Virtue and Moir haven’t been far behind.

Asked if they could make up the 2.5 point gap tonight and overtake Davis and White, Moir was deferential. “It’s doable,” he said. “But we know the team we’re sitting beside are going to bring a great program.”

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